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EW Project 4: Proposal

An alternate reality game based in Plymouth University loosely based on the popular king of the hill game. It’s also very loosely based on the app Foursquare, which lets you keep track of places you’ve been and rewards you for visiting related places. The game will split the campus up into zones with players competing over control of those zones. Each zone will have a physical capture point. The capture point will be a web-capable arduino with a screen embedded into the environment. The game will take place entirely in the digital world through one’s smartphone.

A player must first register themselves as a player on the web application. Then they must log onto the web app through their phone. Following this the player approaches a capture point with a numerical code displayed on it's screen.

The player (Player 1 in this example) enters this number into the web app on their smartphone. This declares that Player 1 has successfully captured the zone - this information gets sent to the database. The capture point is then rendered unusable for a cooldown period. Once this cooldown is complete the code changes and the capture point is usable again, giving another player the ability to capture Player 1's zone by entering new code displayed on the capture point.

The time each player has held each zone is stored in the database, with the players that controlled the zone for the longest periods of time being higher up in a leaderboard and earning achievements.

I feel this works well with the brief as it brings the digital and physical world together by adding a digital, immaterial layer over the physical world. An alternate 'parallel universe' that only exists in the digital world. An interactive network is also created between all the different players of this game, where otherwise there would not have been one. I also feel that to an extent it also incorporates the idea of "internet of things". While traditionally this applies to individual objects, the KOTH project aims to effectively class the university campus as a "thing". This is showcased by each area on campus being 'alive' with players rushing to capture points.

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